Be Reconciled ... and Reconcile

This past week has seen some hard things said among politicians. One incident in particular seems to have led to physical injuries.

It led me to notice a fascinating point that was made in Sunday morning’s Our Daily Bread notes. There were two men in Jesus’ team of disciples who normally would not have had a good word to say to each other.

Simon the Zealot had a background as a freedom fighter. Bitterly opposed to the Roman Empire, he would have gone to extreme lengths to cast off the Roman yoke from the Jewish province, Judaea.

Matthew, on the other hand, had left his work as a tax-gatherer at Jesus’ call. Such men were hated in the land. Agents of the Roman power, they collected taxes on their behalf and were allowed to milk their victims for a bit extra that they could keep for themselves. You can imagine Simon looking daggers at Matthew and wondering what on earth Jesus meant by calling him to be a member of the team.

And yet, says the writer of the article, they seem to have got on. There is no evidence of any blazing rows erupting between them. What a fascinating example of reconciliation!

It is a mark of true Christians that they are reconcilers. This causes them to be different in a way you would not normally think about. I once had an interesting conversation with a church pastor who had come from a non-Christian home. His recollection of life there was that nobody seemed able to disagree nicely. Whenever there was a difference of opinion it always seemed to lead to a shouting match. Now the head of a Christian household, the pastor was glad and relieved to be part of a family that modelled a different approach. Problems were calmly, rationally and Christianly thought through and peaceable solutions reached.

For the apostle Paul, becoming a Christian means no longer looking at other people from an earthly point of view, regarding them, as he says, “according to the flesh”. We no longer – or should no longer – jump to hasty conclusions about them. We seek reasons to be at peace with them rather than to be at loggerheads, to bring about agreement rather than dispute.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:16-20 ESV)

If you really want your life to be a compliment to Jesus, be a reconciled and reconciling person every day!